Seeking discomfort and stepping out of your comfort zone can be very rewarding. However, leaving your sense of comfort is a difficult task for most people, which is why we see the majority of people conforming to standards that keep them comfortable.

You can seek discomfort in almost every part of your life. Whether it’s trying a new dish that you feel you might not like, or lifting heavier weights at the gym, discomfort can be seen as a way to grow. In The Play Mountain podcast, we hear about how Isamu Noguchi’s Play Mountain came to be what it is today. His new idea of what playgrounds should be were far outside of society’s “comfort zone.” Pitching new ideas may have been uncomfortable or had the risk of causing Noguchi discomfort as well. If he hadn’t been so persistent with his new idea or hadn’t pitched it at all, the creation of Play Mountain would never have existed.

Avoiding discomfort can make you miss opportunities. The risk of being wrong, ridiculed, or uncomfortable shouldn’t outweigh the attempt of an opportunity you desire. An example of this is the court case of the Japanese American victims in the graphic novel, They Called Us Enemy, written by George Takei. If the Japanese American survivors of the concentration camps didn’t attempt to have a fair trial discussing their reparations and citizenship, they would have never got the outcome that they ended up getting. Being willing to go through discomfort will help you be more successful with the bigger goals you have in life.

A YouTube channel called Yes Theory is based around the saying, “Seek discomfort.”

They are firm believers that you grow and learn the most from experiences outside your comfort zone. Thus, they spend time making videos about these kinds of experiences in hopes of inspiring others to live their life to the fullest. 

Embrace discomfort. Seek it.